Untitled As of Now
by darkravenx0
Summary: I need a title. It's been done before: The Outsiders took place in 04, so it's 05 now... Amber told from Amber Johnson's POV she's 15
1. Chapter 1

Thanks To: Charmedgurl1891 for looking over this chapter and giving me the idea for Amber and the door. That girl's bedroom door does the same thing Amber's does and I just LOVE it.

Summary: So, it's been done before. The Outsiders took place in 2004, so it's about a year after the events in the book. It's September in the story. I've changed the location to Port Jefferson Station, Long Island, New York. It is told in Amber Johnson's POV.

Disclaimer: I do not in anyway own The Outsiders, although I have a paperback copy. I also do not own any bands you recognize in this story.

I leaned up against my closed my bedroom door. My brother, Tyler, had his friends over. Steve Randle and Sodapop Curtis, I guess they were okay. They were loud, that's all. But, I was loud, so I shouldn't complain. I looked around my room. Light blue walls and a worn in pink carpet with posters of my favorite bands covering the walls. Good Charlotte hung over my bed, Green Day was in the corner with my guitar and the single Evanescence poster was near my closet. It was hard to tell my rug was pink, my closet threw up. Clothes were all over the floor with some shoes and papers and books. I shuffled my feet as I made my way to my desk. I sat on the chair and span it around. I get such enjoyment from that. I was turning on my computer when my door swung open.

"Get her!" somebody yelled and flung my door open. It made a weird noise. Tyler and I get along, but sometimes he is weird. Somebody grabbed my wrists and somebody grabbed my ankles. I tried to wiggle out of the grip, but I couldn't. I stopped wiggling on the stairs, I wasn't going to fall and kill myself. They threw me on the couch and Tyler jumped onto my stomach. I gasped, he's kind of heavy. I kicked my legs a bit.

"Ty, I need my stomach, so I can breathe, so I can run," I begged. I was on the track team at the high school. I was going to be soon at least. It was the end of summer vacation; school was starting in two days. Last year, I had been on it with Ponyboy Curtis, Sodapop's younger brother, once. I don't know why, but I don't like him a lot. He was always so fast and beating me. That's not why I don't like him; I'm not a sore loser.

As soon as Tyler got off of me, I jumped over the coffee table as easily as if it were a hurdle and ran into my room. I shut the door, slightly lifted it and then locked it. I needed to lift it because a hinge was broken, which was why it makes weird noises when it opens and closes. I sat at my computer and typed in the password. It was my computer, in my room, but I still liked the privacy. I signed on the instant messenger and started a chat with my friends Erica, Megan, Kim and Jane. I put on the microphone so they could hear the beginning of a new song I was working on. We were our own band. We didn't let other people know, not until we were really good. I did the lead guitar and back up vocals, Erica did the main vocals, Megan did the bass, Kim did the drums, and Jane played back up guitar. They liked it, they always like my songs. I wrote half of the songs we practiced; the other ones already existed from other bands.

I was called down for dinner, thankfully Sodapop and Steve left. It was a quiet dinner with my family, my mom, Lydia, my dad, Jacob, Tyler and I. I ate my veggie burger while they all ate their beef burgers. I'm a vegetarian and you can thank Erica for that.

"I'm goin' to the mall with Erica and them tonight," I said in between bites. My dad looked at me; he hated it when I went to the mall by myself.

"Tyler, could you go with her?" Tyler groaned. We got along just fine, but he hated to look after me.

"Dad, the girl is 14, I'm pretty sure she can go to the mall herself. Besides she'll be with her friends." My dad sighed. Tyler did have a point; I was going with Erica, Megan, Kim, and Jane. I was 15 (Tyler didn't know that); he let me go to the movies by myself. And one time, the theatre wasn't even like PJ Cinemas or anything; it was Island 16, the biggest movie complex around. You could live there; it had all sorts of food ranging from pizza to popcorn to candy. You could get drinks like sodas, coffees, and slushies. And it was like from 9- 12 that movie. Dark Water, it was cool. It wasn't even like it was the Roosevelt Field Mall; it was just the Smith haven Mall.

"Be careful, and take your cell phone with you." I nodded. I didn't leave home with out my black Nextel phone. I put it on the belt clip and waited for Kim's mom to come. I called bye to my parents and entered Kim's mom's Hummer. I didn't like Hummers much, they were too big. I preferred my mom's Chrysler Pacifica. The Pacifica was sort of small, it was perfect.

We roamed around the mall for hours. We went into stores that ranged from Hot Topic to Aeropastel. The punks and Goths and skaters went into Hot Topic and the preps went into Aeropastel. If Tyler knew I shopped there, he'd have killed me. He had this thing about preps, he didn't like them. He was a skater type of kid and he just didn't like them. The preps and the other groups didn't like each other. I had friends from both groups, but Tyler never met the prep ones. We stopped at Häagen-Dazs and got ice cream, it wasn't as good as a Starbucks' Frappuccino, but as of now there wasn't a Starbucks in the mall. It was rumored one would be put up with the Barnes and Noble.

I got home and climbed into bed. I noticed a faint glow from my desk. I forgot to shut off my computer. I looked and noticed a message from a screen name I had never seen before. _I like you_. Who could like me? I was popular, but I wasn't pretty. You'd be better off liking Megan. She was pretty and popular.

**Who r u?**

_Y shud I tell u?_

**U just sed u liked me**

_Maybe I don't want u 2 no_

**I'll figure it out**

_U won't_

**I bet I will**

_I no u wont I wont let u_

**g2g bye**

_Bye Amber_

Now I wanted to know who this person was. They knew my name. I quietly tip-toed down the hall and into Tyler's room, his computer was off and he was dead asleep. It wasn't him pulling a joke. Maybe it was one of his friends or maybe one of my friends. I printed it out to take to track with me tomorrow. For some reason our school sports start a week before school, yesterday practice was canceled. Erica and Kim ran track with me. Jane was too slow and Megan was too klutzy.

I woke up in the morning and put on a lose Green Day concert tee-shirt and shorts. I put on my socks and new running shoes. Erica's mom was picking me up, my parents worked. My mom was a nurse and my dad was a teacher, he had to go set up his classroom today. He worked in the Sachem school district. Erica's mom pulled up in their nice little convertible PT Cruiser. I hopped into the back and she drove us to the school.

"Five minutes and thirty-seven seconds," my coach called to me. Damn, that was barely beating my old time. I looked ahead to see who was done already. I would be the second finished, that dumb Ponyboy Curtis was ahead of me, like usual. I grabbed my water bottle and took a little drink and waited for Erica. She finished about fifth, Kim was sixth. Those two were about the same speed and they talked while they ran.

We were coming out of the locker room and I pulled the printed conversation out and showed it to them.

"Oh, Amber's got a secret admirer." I grinned and rolled my eyes.

"It was probably a prank from one of my brother's friends. Who's picking us up?"

"Me and Erica are walking to my house," Kim said. Kim lived close enough to the school to walk. I sighed and hoped that Ponyboy wasn't picked up yet. I figured maybe his brother would pick him up and he could give me a ride home. Tyler hated it when I had to get him to pick me up. My house was too far away to walk, I'd have to cross to busy streets and I didn't feel like doing that.

"Pony, is your brother picking you up?" I called to him as I ran towards him. He shrugged.

"You don't know?"

"No."

"I guess I'll call Tyler, do you need a ride?"

"Sure." I called Tyler and as aggravated as he was, he came and picked me up. We drove Ponyboy back to his house and then went to our house. I went to my computer to check for new messages. This secret admirer thing was going to eat at me.

Descriptions of my characters:

You already know the ones from the books. They didn't change.

Tyler Johnson

Hair: Short, spiked honey blonde

Eye: Emerald green

Height: Tall

Weight: Slightly on the heavy side

Age: 16/17

Birthday: September 22, 1988

Bands: Green Day, Fall Out Boy, Simple Plan, Blink 182 (others on those lines)

Likes: Chocolate, meat, his friends, his family

Dislikes: Preps, rap, reality TV

Personality: Lazy, loud, fun

Best Friends: Sodapop Curtis, Steve Randle

Amber Johnson

Hair: Chin length honey blonde

Eye: Dark brown

Height: Short

Weight: Thin

Age: 15

Birthday May 19, 1990

Bands: Green Day, Good Charlotte, Evanescence, Fall Out Boy

Likes: Her friends, her family, her brother's friends, chocolate, ice cream

Dislikes: Rap, politics

Personality: Loud, Energetic/Athletic, fun, popular

Best Friends: Erica, Kim, Jane, Megan


	2. Chapter 2

Disclaimer: I do not own The Outsiders or any recognizable bands. I do not own The Mix Down, charmedgurl1891's friend owns it.

Reviewers:

Alaskajenna- Glad you liked it.

Charmedgurl1891- Who do you think silly? It's you of course. You're door _is_ funny.

Thanks: To charmedgurl1891, my first review and beta.

I sat while looking at the screen. No new messages yet. I checked my e-mail. Nothing new, it was only Spam. I hated Spam with every blood vessel in my body. It flooded your e-mail and sent you viruses. How is that a good thing? Tyler came in behind me.

"What's eating you?"

"Nothin'," I told him. He spun the chair around so I was facing him.

"That nothin' sounds like a somethin'." Tyler wasn't stupid, this was a surprise. I looked down at my feet. I had pulled off my sock**s** and now I had little pieces of sock lint stuck between my toes. I hated sock lint. I spun my chair back around and went to (1) www. shoutcast .com and searched for The Mix Down. It played music, mostly punk and took requests. It was only on when the guy decided he wanted to cast.

"The Mix Down, that's cool," he said and then I got an instant message.

_I saw u running 2day Ur pretty fast_

I quickly minimized it, hoping that maybe Tyler wouldn't see that.

"Who's that?"

"I don't know." He looked at me in disbelief. "I don't know, honestly."

**Who's this?** Tyler typed in.

_Im not tellin, I dont want u 2 no who I am_

**U better tell me... it's Tyler**

_Tyler? Wut r u doin on Amb's computer, Ty?_

**None of Ur business tell me who u r**

No

Whoever it was quickly signed off the instant messenger. Tyler looked at me and walked out of my room. I sighed; I really wanted to know who this guy was. At least, I hoped it was a guy. Not many people called me Amb. Only Tyler, his friends, Erica, Kim, Jane, and Megan did. Not many people called my brother Ty, not many people were allowed to. Just his friends called him that and probably a few ex-girlfriends. I bit my nail nervously. It was probably some stupid prank.

I turned on Green Day; the sounds of "Holiday" filled my room as I turned off The Mix Down. Tyler yelled at me to turn my music down, but I only turned it higher and switched to Evanescence. He wasn't a big fan of Evanescence. I started singing at the top of my lungs.

He came into my room looking pretty pissed. He grabbed a flip-flop off the floor and threw it at me.

"Next time, I'll throw your guitar," he said. I stared at him. My face said, _'you wouldn't dare do that_'. He shot me a look back. _'Oh, yes, I would_'. I knew he would. I'd just have to go and bust his precious drum set in. He took more care of that drum set than his pet snake. I was okay with the snake. It was in a glass cage, far away from my rabbit.

He turned away as soon as I lowered the stereo. From his room I could hear the sounds of Simple Plan. He knew I wasn't a fan of Simple Plan. I wasn't going to get aggravated. The two of us were in the house by ourselves so I ran into the hall singing with the music. I knew the words.

"WELCOME TO MY LIFE!" I shrieked and he slammed his door and turned the music down. He got the message. I went back into my room and turned off my music. I fed my rabbit. I named him Benji-Joel after the twins in Good Charlotte. My brother's snake was named, well, I don't know. I sat on my stool and picked up my guitar. It was an Ibanez acoustic and I loved it. Next to Benji-Joel, this thing was my baby. I played a few chords.

"Shut your damn door!" Tyler yelled and came near my room. He slammed my door and I laughed at the noise it made. My dad insisted the hinge wasn't broken, but it was. All of my friends saw it. _Bling_, somebody signed on the instant messenger. It was the mystery guy.

**It's Amb, how do I no u?**

_From skool, who do u like?_

**Y shud I tell u? U wont tell me who u r**

_If I told u wud u tell me?_

**Depends who r u?**

There was a noise like a door shutting and he signed off. I was really mad. He really didn't want me to find out who he was. I leaned my head back in the chair. A thought struck me and I shook it off. That would be creepy, and I didn't want that. Besides, they didn't have a good computer with the internet. I put on my flip-flops, removed some more sock lint from in between my toes and went into the living room.

"Where are you going?" Tyler asked me.

"The library, where else would I go?" The library was like my second home. I spent about 40 of my time there, 25 of my time at home and 35 of it out of the house (school, movies, mall, and other things like that). Tyler nodded and I walked to the library. The library wasn't far away, barely a mile and it takes about 10 minutes to get there. As soon as I get there, I'm supposed to call Tyler. So, I did, because I'm such a _good_ girl.

I walked into the library. Why is he here? I wondered. Crouching near a shelf of books was the only boy my brother _never_ wanted me to associate with, Dan. I had a crush on Dan. My brother hated him and it wasn't because he was prep. He wasn't prep. My brother said he had once picked a fight with Dally. That was a smooth move. Dally had given the guy a black eye and knocked a few teeth loose. Dan was the toughest guy in the 11th grade. (I was moved up a grade, with Ponyboy, just not at the same time. I was moved up a year before him.) Dan had a book in his hand and I tried to get a glimpse at the title. I couldn't see it and because I was so occupied with that, he rammed into me.

"Didn't see ya," he said extending a hand and helping me up. "I'm Dan."

"I know; we go to school together." Not that we were in any of the same classes, we weren't. "My name is Amber."

"Okay, nice to run into you," he laughed. I giggled a little hoping that I didn't snort. "Here's my number, maybe we can hang sometime."He didn't say anything more and walked off. I got so excited; Dan touched me and talked to me. I went into the corner and pulled out my phone. I wasn't supposed to use it in the library, but this was news! I called Erica who in turn called the other three girls. I rushed home, because they were coming over.

"Oh my god!" Erica shrieked when they got to my house. We ran to my room.

"I can't believe he touched you! Did he smell good?" What kind of question was that?

"Jane, are you on drugs?" I asked her. "He smelt okay."

"What else happened?" Kim asked knowing there was more to the story. I reached into my pocket and pulled out a Wrigley's gum wrapper.

"He gave me his phone number," I said calmly and they shrieked. Tyler knocked on the door and walked in.

"What's going on?"

"Amb just ran into Dan in the library," Megan began to say.

"Dan, as in the guy I hate?" He asked cutting her off. I shook my head no and when he left I gave Megan a hateful look.

"Your brother doesn't like Dan?"

"No, but that doesn't matter to me. I have Dan's number!" I shouted, still in disbelief. They helped me pick out my outfit for school tomorrow. I ended up getting out a red plaid skirt, my black knee socks, low top red converse (they were kind of old and ripping. Megan had shaken her head when I pulled them out of my closet), and a white shirt. I had my black sweatshirt jacket incase it got cold. I packed my track bag complete with cotton socks, running shoes, cotton shorts and an Evanescence shirt.

"…notch in your bedpost, but you're just a line in a song…" I heard Erica begin to sing as she turned on Fall Out Boy's "Sugar We're Goin' Down."

"We should so totally learn how to play this!" Megan said jumping off of my bed and logging onto her screen-name. I had invited them to eat over so they each were calling their parents, or in Megan's case, instant messaging siblings. Tyler was having Steve, Soda, Two-Bit, and Katie over. Katie was his most recentgirlfriend. It was sort of like a tradition, we could each have four friends over the night before school starts for pizza. I don't see why Tyler bothered inviting Soda; he didn't even go to school.

I looked at Tyler; he was going to be a senior, as well as Steve and Two-Bit. They threw a big party at the end of last year when Two-Bit finally passed 11th grade. If he hadn't, I would've been in the same grade as him. Probably not the same classes though, I'll be taking some senior classes this year.

* * *

(1) That's a real place. If you want to go there type in www. shoutcast .com (take the spaces out0 and search for The Mix Down. The guy can only have 5 listeners in at a time and it sucks. 


	3. Chapter 3

Disclaimer- I do not own The Outsiders

Reviewers- Thanks so much

Charmedgurl1891- You know your door is funny. Stop denying it. Thanks for the help with this.

Dakota- Here is your update!

The first week of school was very uneventful. Track practices were extra long and extra hard. Our first meet was against Shoram/Wading RiverTuesday. The coach wanted us to win. I didn't see much of anybody that wasn't on the track team. Erica, Kim, and some other track girls ate lunch with me. I didn't see a lot of Jane and Megan except on Sunday when we had a band practice. We argued about playing Green Day's "Holiday" or Fall Out Boy's "Sugar We're Goin' Down." The most exciting thing that happened was an instant message from Dan.

_Wanna go out w/ me 2morow?_

**Where will we go?**

_Buck's throwin another party wanna go?_

**But my bro & his friends said nevr 2 go there**

_Ur gonna listen 2 them?_

**OK, let's go** **meet me the corner of Bicycle & old town**

_Y cant I pick u up?_

**My bro dont like u much** Why was I going? Because Dan invited me, the coolest kid in school _likes _**me**! I had to decide what to wear, I was gonna go shopping with Megan tonight. Megan had the best taste.

I went to Kohl's with Megan. She picked out dark denim jeans with sparkles near the ankle. I put them back, they weren't my style. She got angry and called her mom.She gets angry over the stupidest things, like when I wore my low top converse on the first day of school. So what, they had a tear in them I picked out a pair of green cargo pants and a red tank top. They would go good with my 'ugly' converseI called my mom to pick me up, because Tyler is only allowed to drive to the school and to his job. I told her Megan left and she wondered why. I told her not to bother and showed her my cargo pants and tank top.

The next night I met Dan at the corner of Bicycle Path and Old Town Road. He was wearing"The Misfits" tee-shit and baggy jeans. He also had on a leather coat. He put his arm around my shoulder and we walked to Buck Merril's house. He opened the door and I knew it was bad. We were each handed a can of beer. Dan took mine, I thought for a second he wasn't going to let me drink it, but he just opened it and handed it back to me. I tried to grin and I forced out a thank you. He downed like three or four in the time it took me to finish one. I wondered if he knew I was only 15.

Dan came up in front of me and pushed me onto the couch. He started to kiss me and I tried to fight him. Eventually I slapped him across the face and shoved him off of me. I ran out of the house, very fast. I ran all the way home where I searched for Tyler. I found him in his room. I opened the door.

"Tyler," I said entering his room, "tell me exactly why you don't like Dan and don't tell me because he tried to take on Dally." Tyler grabbed my arms.

"Have you been drinking?" he asked as he sniffed my breath.

"Don't change the subject," I warned him.

"D'ya Remember Lila? Well the damn guy took her to one of Buck's parties and got her drunk. He tried somethin' with her but Dally stopped him. That's when he decided to take on Dally." I nodded. "Why? Were you with him?"

"No," I said and looked at my red converse. I had stepped in dog crap. Just my luck.The shoes were old enough so I would just toss them, I wanted new ones anyway. For now I had my black high tops or my running shoes.

"You went to Buck Merril's party tonight, didn't you? You went with Dan, didn't you?" His voice was raising and I got scared. "Are you okay?" He asked calmly. I shook my head no, I was scared to death. He did something weird then, he pulled me into a hug.

"I hit him and ran out," I said with fear. I wondered if I would be in trouble with him. I started to cry and Tyler sat me on the couch. He called somebody and then told me that we were going to Soda's house to discuss something with him and Steve. They were probably going to figure out how dangerous he was.

I sat on their couch and looked at my fingers. I needed a nail file really bad. Actually, scratch that, I needed a manicure really bad. I didn't really hear what they were saying, I heard my name and how lucky I was that he wasn't too drunk. I also heard that I was a liar and how I should be more careful. I went to go find Ponyboy; maybe I'd challenge him to a race at the high school track.

I found him,we walked to the track and thenrested a bit, it had been a long walk. I just realized I hadn't told Tyler where I'd be. I had my cell phone if he needed me. I grabbed the scrunchie off of my wrist and tied my hair into a ponytail, only it wasn't really a ponytail. It was a nub. I rolled up the cargo pants, thankfully they were baggy. I put my phone in my pocket.

"Ready? Go!" Ponyboy shouted before I was even ready.I was in the middle of tying my shoe.

"Ponyboy Curtis, that's cheating and you know it!" I finished tying my shoe and started to run.

"Who's gonna stop me, slowpoke?" I picked up speed and shoved him. He stumbled and fell.

"You never said what the rules for the race were." I called as I ran ahead. I finished a little ahead of him. "Sorry about thatI said when I was walking around the track to cool off.

"No problem," he said. I felt my phone vibrate and then my ring-tone started. "... This is the dawning of our lives, on Holiday..." I reached into my pocket. It was Tyler and I told him where I was and yes, Ponyboy was with me. He was coming to pick us up now. He was worried that I was going to see Dan. Did he think I was that stupid? I'm not, duhI got pushed up a grade.

"See you in physics tomorrow," I said to Ponyboy as he went into the house. I don't know why I was being so nice; maybe I was a little shook up from what had happened. "Tyler, I'm not dumb. I'm going into 11th grade," I told him. He messed up my hair and smiled.

"You're my little sis, I gotta look after you." I went into my room and turned on my instant messenger.

_How wuz the party_

**Dont remind me Kim**

_That bad_

**Worse he tried 2 get me drunk**

_Ouch_

I got another one, from mystery boy

_Did u have fun Ur party _It couldn't be Pony, I had told him the whole story on the way to the track.

**Yes specially cuz I wuznt w/ u**

_That's y u left runnin_

**Yea I went runnin w/ my friend**

_Curtis is Ur friend_

**Yea y not**

_U nevr pay attention 2 the kid u hang out w/ ur click_

**Is that wrong we talk in physics & a little track**

Tyler came into my room and spun my chair around. It was okay when I did it, but when other people did that it made me sick.

"I know you were with Ponyboy and everything, but I don't like it when you go without telling me."

"You don't trust Ponyboy? Did he try to rape a girlfriend of yours too?" I asked.

"I don't really trust him; the kid left his sneakers in his locker once and walked home without them. If you two got jumped, I'm afraid he wouldn't know what to do."

"Tyler, it was right after the, um, the incident. Cut the kid some slack!" I had trouble referring to the incident sometimes. I thought Johnny was okay, he was about two years older than me. He never talked and that irked me. I wasn't one to like Dally, but I cried just as hard as everybody else did when he died. He was a brother. Why was I being so defensive of Ponyboy?

"You like Ponyboy," Tyler said teasingly. I jumped out of my chair and he ran. He knew I would catch him though; it was no use for him to run.

"No, I like," I couldn't think of anybody. I had liked Dan, but now I hated him. "I like Justin," I said. I didn't really like anybody so I made up some name.

"Justin, right," he said and walked off into his room. I looked into my closet for something to wear. I had to wear something that would look nice with my running shoes, or my black converse. I found a pair of faded blue jeans with a nice rip in the left knee. (I can't climb trees) I searched my drawers for a shirt that would go nice with it. I eventually found a black tank top and my black and white striped sweatshirt jacket.

Physics was first thing in the morning, my least favorite classthe only class I had trouble in. Yes, I've only had this class a week and I sucked. That's life.


	4. Chapter 4

Disclaimer: I do not own The Outsiders. Sadly enough, I don't own the last two sentences in the last chapter, charmedgurl1891 added them.

Reviewers: Thanks.

Charmedgurl1891- I have enough kids to worry about without worrying about a bunch of camp kids. Have fun genius. Your door is funny.

BlackLightningDX- You find out in this chapter.

"This isn't working out," I told about the third guy this month. I had started dating some guys. They weren't prep guys; they were guys that were nice until you got on the date with them. Then they talked about _things_ I'd rather not hear about, and asked me things I'd rather not answer. I picked up my bag and walked out of the movie theatre. I'd go home and talk to Jane. She'd help me get over this. I signed onto my screen name and while it was logging me on I fed my rabbit.

_Wanna no who I am?_

**I have been wonderin, tell me!**

_I wont tell u till I c u wanna go to the movies w/ me 2morow_

**Sure**

I figured I'd go. I was desperate to find out.

_PJ's 2_

**Fine**

I woke up a little late the next morning. 11:21 is pretty late for me. I got up and made myself toast from my favorite bread, Chocolate Chip Swirl. I ate that lightly buttered and then brushed my teeth. My mom complained when I didn't. They were straight from braces but "yellow". I swear they weren't any yellowier than Tyler's and he never got yelled at. I pulled on some clothes, nothing special it was just the movies. I got a ride form Tyler, he works at Stop and Shop, and it's in the same strip.

"Call mom to pick you up, got it?" I nodded and he pushed me out of the car before finding a parking spot. I waved to him and walked into the theatre. We were going to meet by the pinball machine. I got nervous. Who was this guy? I got a little excited when I saw Ponyboy come in, okay, so maybe I _do_ like him. But what would it do to my rep, the guy wasn't exactly cool. I was disappointed when I noticed Two-Bit was with him. I nervously played with my live strong bracelet. I sat on the pinball machine and swung my legs. Maybe he wouldn't show up.

I felt a tap on my shoulder and I turned around. Then, I screamed. I screamed in the poor guy's face. Oh my god, its still, EW. I looked at him and wanted to throw up. He had glasses and his shirt was tucked in, _tucked in!_ I ran out of there and over to Stop and Shop to find Tyler. He was stocking baby diapers in aisle five.

"You look like you just saw a ghost," he told me.

"Worse," I replied and sat down on the step stool. I called mom and begged her to pick me up. I had to fight with her a little bit but eventually she came and picked me up. I went into my room and quickly blocked the kids screen name.

_How'd things go on Ur blind date_

**Omg Erica it wuz _baaad_**

_Spill_

**Tucked in, button down shirt Im surprised he didn't have a pocket protector or sumthin**

_Oo_

I didn't want to talk about it so I signed off and went outside. Tyler wouldn't be home for another 3 hours. I picked up the phone and hesitated. Who was I going to call? Nobody was home, Ponyboy was at the movies. I should've stayed at the movies. I didn't have to go see the exact same movie that Mr. Pocket Protector would be seeing. I could've snuck into a different movie. Wait, why did I think of Ponyboy? I knew I liked him a_ little _bit, but he didn't really like me. I was just somebody to compete against in track. Track, I had track in an hour and a half! Today was a meet against Three Village. I looked through my closet trying to find my uniform.

"Mom," I called. When in doubt, ask mom. Why not, she did all my laundry.

"What do you need, I'm busy." Busy, yeah right. She was in the kitchen looking through the refrigerator while talking on the phone.

"Where's my uniform?" she looked at me and made an 'o' with her mouth. She pointed to the laundry room and I looked in the washing machine. Damn, it was still wet. I tossed it into the dryer and hopped it would dry quickly. It did and it didn't shrink. I went into my bedroom and pulled down my shades. I changed into the uniform and grabbed a pair of white cotton socks. The kind of socks that leave sock lint. My running shoes were in my locker so I didn't have to worry about that.

"Honey, do you have a ride to the meet?" Why did she wait until _now _to ask me? Tyler was going to be at work and dad was going to be out. She was having her friend over. I shrugged and went to go get my cell phone. I called the Curtis house and left a message with Sodapop for Ponyboy to call me back.

"...this is the dawning of our lives, on holiday..."

"Hello?" I asked even though I _knew _who it was.

"Soda said you called."

"Yeah, I need a ride to the meet today, can you give me one?"

"I was thinking of walking. I'll walk with you if you want." My heart did a gymnastics trick it probably learned when I was five.

"Okay," I said and I heard him hang up. He would probably be coming by in ten to fifteen minutes. I grabbed my track sweatshirt, it was a little breezy and I didn't like what the uniform made me look like. It looked okay when I was running, but if I was standing still it made me sick. I put on my high tops and noticed I looked funny. I had on a sweatshirt, a pair of shorts and high tops. I laughed and then put my hair into a nub, gelling back the hair that stuck out.

"AMBER, PONYBOY IS HERE!" My mom shrieked. I ran down the stairs. I was glad Tyler wasn't here. He didn't trust Ponyboy that much. I kissed her on the cheek and she wished my luck.

"You look funny," Ponyboy said as we were walking.

"You don't look that great yourself," I shot back and glared at him. He glanced at me and quickly looked away. I looked away too. I didn't want him to think I liked him, even if I did. We walked to the high school track as soon as Three Village's bus pulled into the parking lot. Being the nice person I am I volunteered to take their girls into our locker room to use the bathroom. I only went so I could go to my locker and put away my cell phone and changed my shoes. I took the sweatshirt off. I looked in the mirror and made sure my hair was okay. I didn't really like it when honey blonde pieces flew into my face in the middle of a race.

We did pretty well; I won't say we did great. Ponyboy came in first, how can he not? I wondered how he ran so fast. I got third; some Three Village guy beat me. I hated it when that happened. I had to walk home with Ponyboy, although I could've called Tyler. It was the school he was going to. I ignored that and went into the locker room and grabbed my stuff.

"What movie did you see today?" he asked me.

"I didn't go see a movie."

"I thought I saw you at PJ's."

"I was there, but my blind date turned out to be that Simmons kid." He nodded. "Why do you wanna know anyway?"

"Just making conversation," he replied. We walked the rest of the way in silence. "I guess I'll go," he said when we got to my house.

"You can't walk home, its dark," I told him. "Stay the night on the couch, Ty won't mind driving you tomorrow." He shrugged and I gave him my phone to call his brothers. The only problem was school tomorrow. Tyler would give him a ride. I would make him. I went to sleep in my bed thinking of the stupid track meet. I could've had second easily. Why didn't I get it?


	5. Chapter 5

Thanks: My reviewers thank you! Charmed, thanks for looking over this and all that other stuff. Mike, although you don't know it, the thing you said to Charmed in Wal-Mart is now in my story, so thanks for being mean to Charmed. SORRY FOR THE WAIT! THE STORY WON'T BE UPDATED FAST! I AM MOVING TOMORROW AND SCHOOL IS STARTING AND OTHER THINGS! EXPECT AN UPDATE ABOUT EVERY OTHER WEEK…

Reviewers:

BlackLightningDX- Unexpected, yes.

Charmegdurl1891- Shut up because you KNOW it's funny. Just like I love Jess. Unfortunately, your dad fixed it.

XAmberX- But that would've been predictable.

Tehsylvania- Thank you!

Disclaimer: I do not own The Outsiders. I don't own much, we sold a lot at our garage sale.

"Now, tell me again why I have to drive him to school?" Tyler asked me the next morning.

"'Cause I said so and I have your drumsticks," I told him. I waved his drumsticks in the air. He made a grab for them but I put them in my backpack.

"Fine," he huffed and grabbed the keys, "What about your school stuff?" he asked Pony. I quickly answered that.

"On the phone last night I got Steve to agree to bring it to school." I can use my brain, sometimes. He seemed a little ticked that I had thought of that. It wasn't hard; it didn't take a rocket scientist to figure out things like that.

Tyler drove us to school; I don't have a problem with his driving. He wasn't fast like his friends were. He was responsible? No, that wasn't the word, and neither was mature. Oh well, he was a good driver.

It rained, so track was canceled. One time, they held track in the school. We ran through the hallways but the teachers didn't appreciate that so we weren't allowed to do that. I ended up having to go to Stop and Shop with Tyler. My mom was at work and so was my dad, it was the only other place I _could _go. I had money if I wanted to go see a movie, but I didn't feel like going into PJ's for a while.

I was walking around the store for a little bit when Tyler stopped me in one of the aisles.

"Hey, Amb, tampons or pads?" he asked me. I wanted to die of embarrassment. Everybody in the aisle turned to look at him. I continued to walk, hoping that nobody knew it was me he was talking to. When he was taking me home I slapped him across the face.

"Why the hell would you say something like that?"

"Relax, I just wanted to know," he responded.

"Yeah, so you can torment me for the rest of my life?" I didn't talk to him for the rest of the ride home. I got home and made sure my track uniform was getting washed. Then I fed my rabbit.

The girls came over. Jane was trying to get us to get the music for "Dirty Little Secret" by The All-American Rejects. Jane kept singing it and finally pulled the c.d. out of her bag. She put it into my stereo and got it stuck in our heads.

"Guess what Ty did to me today," I told them. Then I told them the whole story. They felt really bad and told me I should be traumatized.

"Jane, I'm gonna kill you! Thanks for gettin' that song stuck in my head," I told her. She made a dash out the door and ran down the stairs into the backyard. The rest of us chased after her. She had ventured far into the wooded part of my backyard. We couldn't tackle her there; she'd get all scratched up. We chased her back into the middle of the yard and Kim grabbed her ankle. She fell to her knees but quickly pried her ankle lose.

"I know a secret," Kim sang as we came back in.

"What?" I asked her.

"Yeah, what?" Erica asked in agreement. Kim smiled and walked towards my room. This was going to be fun. She could keep her mouth shut for days on end. She waited for everybody to come in and then shut my door. I noticed it didn't make a sound and checked out the hinge. Somebody fixed it. Thank the lord!

"It's about Amber," she said, smiling. She pointed to me. I watched as everybody looked at me. What did she know?

"What?" I questioned again.

"You like Ponyboy Curtis," she informed me. How did she know that? There was no way, _no way, _she could've known that.

"Since when?" I asked her. If I acted like I had no idea what she was talking about, maybe she would drop it.

"Tyler told me so."

"Since when do you talk to Tyler?" This was getting oh-so complicated.

"Maybe I can talk to whomever I choose. No, maybe Tyler had to ask me something and your name popped up." I stared at her.

"Kimberly, you tell me the truth right now!" I snapped at her.

"Whoa, jeez, just because your brother likes me…" she trailed off.

"What?" Megan asked quickly.

"Yeah, he asked me out, do you have a problem with that?"

"No, but he told you I liked Ponyboy? He doesn't know that!"

"He said he asked you about it and you flipped out. Face it, Hun, we all know. It's only a matter of time before Curtis himself finds out." I slapped my head in the forehead.

"Shit," I muttered and fell back onto my bed. This sucked, it really did. "Are you going out with him?"

"No, I don't like him. I like somebody else…"

"Oh, c'mon, you gotta tell us. You all know I like Ponyboy!"

"He's not from 'round here. He goes to Middle Country. He's my mom's hairdresser's son." I wasn't going to take this any further. I had my own problems to worry about. My door flew open.

"I heard that!" Tyler called. "I wonder what Ponyboy will think!" He looked like he just won the lottery.

"Oh, c'mon, Ty, don't tell," I begged him.

"I won't tell _him_." He told me. He walked out and went into his room.


	6. Chapter 6

Thanks: Charmed, you rock… even with the mileage between us!

Reviewers:

Charmedgurl1891- I can't believe it's fixed! Sorry about the story… I had too

XAmberX- I try to update fast, I've been busy with the moving sale and all of that. Plus, I have 5 younger sisters and we must equally share the computer time (although, I think I get gyped) I'm not as convenient as Charmed up there. I think she gets an update up twice a day… What a freak… (J/k Charmed) Hey, Charmed just told me that she was planning on updating on ten minutes...

Disclaimer- I no own the book. -Sob-

Wow, I can't believe I got this out. My sisters went clothes shopping for school. My dad is going to flip his lid. We are moving soon and my mom picks now to buy clothes? Why doesn't she wait until after we move?

"Tyler Johnson, you better tell me who you'll tell!" I shouted running into his room. He was typing on his computer. He turned his head to face me. He smiled.

"Oh, just… _everybody_," he responded. I went to go see what he was writing. It was an e-mail. In bold, large letters it said "**Amber Johnson Loves Ponyboy Curtis**". I rushed over and started to hit the back space key. He just pushed me off of him. He's bigger than me. He lingered the cursor over the send button.

"Ty, c'mon, don't you _dare_," I pleaded. He moved the cursor to the red 'X' and I sighed a sigh of relief.

"You ought to know I wouldn't do that to you," he told me. He helped me onto my feet. "Your secret is safe with me."

"Oh, now I feel better," I shot back sarcastically. I walked into my room to find my friend huddled over my computer. "What _are _you guys doing?" I questioned.

"Nothing," they sang in unison. I pushed them away to see a whole bunch of IMs. It was Megan's screen name. My mouth dropped in horror. Soon, all of Comsewogue High school would know that I like Ponyboy.

"You didn't," I whined.

"We did," Jane said, between laughs. I grabbed my pillow and smacked all four of them on the head. My phone started ringing and I picked it up.

"Amb, I just heard the _craziest _thing," the voice on the other line said. I was trying to place it. It was probably Jenna, one of my other friends. I didn't hang out with her often.

"What did you hear?"

"You like Curtis," she squealed. It was Jenna, I could tell by the squeal. I groaned. "Is it true, or is Megan lying?"

"It's true," I said, now I wish I hadn't.

"Oh, my, god," she gasped, "I can't _wait_ to tell _everybody_!"

"No, Jen, no, please, don't!" It was too late, she hung up. 'Damn,' I shouted to myself.

"Well, hate to break it to you, Amber, but we need to go," Megan informed me. The girls followed her out and into her mom's car.

"I hate you!" I shouted after them, not serious.

I plopped on my bed and threw my head back, smacking it against the headboard. How would I go through Physics tomorrow? I had to sit near him. He was sure to find out. Especially if Jenna was telling people, the whole world knew by now. I got up, shut off my cell phone and hung my 'Do Not Disturb' sign on the door. I swiped that from the Hampton Inn a few miles away.

The never stopped ringing and I would always claim to be busy, that way I didn't have to talk to anybody.

"Amber," Tyler called. He was pounding on the door. "This phone call is important!" I opened the door and he threw the phone at me.

"H, hello," I stuttered. I was afraid to find out who it was.

"Amber?" Oh, kill me now! It was Ponyboy. My mouth started to dry up and I couldn't talk.

"Ponyboy?" I managed to get out.

"I heard the weirdest thing," he told me. I knew what was coming.

"Oh yeah?" I asked him.

"Yeah, Jenna just called. She said you liked me." The line went quiet for a while.

"She did?" I asked, gaining my voice back.

"Yeah, so did a bunch of other people. Is it true?" I played with my Live Strong bracelet. I did it a lot when I was nervous. I gulped.

"Maybe," I said quietly.

"Oh," he replied.

"I need to go," I told him. I didn't like this awkward silence.

"Okay, see you tomorrow," he told me. I hung up and put the phone back.

I took a shower and changed into my pajamas. I pulled the covers over my head. I grabbed my giant Reese's Pieces doll and fell asleep facing Benji, Joel, and the other guys from Good Charlotte.

"Amber, c'mon, you need to wake up!" Tyler shouted at me. Normally mom woke me up before she headed to work.

"Huh?" I asked, rubbing my eyes.

"Mom had to leave for work early and you overslept. There's a cereal bar on the table and you don't have time to brush your teeth. Just put on some jeans and a tee-shirt; grab your flip-flops and let's go!" He shouted. I jumped up and did what I was told. I grabbed my cell phone and then hurried into the kitchen. I mindlessly grabbed the cereal bar and started to eat it.

I hoped into Tyler's car and he drove to the school, fast. I jumped out of the car, bid my farewell and rushed to Physics. I took my seat, about 2 away from Pony. I didn't glance at him. Maybe I could ignore him. I wish…


	7. Chapter 7

Disclaimer: I wish I owned the book. But, alas, I don't and my copy is somewhere…

Thanks: Charmed!

Reviewers:

XAmberX- Oh! An update, I finally get too update!

Dakota- Pony is cute

DramaticAngel- My friends would die!

"Hey," I heard Megan say as she ran up to me.

"Go die," I hissed. I was pissed, she started this and every time Pony and I had a class together everybody would go 'AW'. She looked at me.

"Do you have a problem?" she asked me, innocently.

"Yeah, as a matter of fact I do! Why, why would you tell everybody my secret? Do you think it's funny? It's not! That's not fair, you guys won't tell me anything and I told you everything. So, just stop talking to me and acting like you did nothing!" I shouted at her. She backed up. I slammed my locker shut and put on my headphones.

"What are you listening to?" Tyler asked as he pulled one side off of my ear and let it hit my ear. I smacked him.

"My Chemical Romance," I answered.

"Oh, my turn!" he shouted and pulled my headphones away. I grabbed them and started to head for the locker room. I still had track, I had track all year round. I did winter track and then track and field in the spring.

"Megan said you were a bitch to her today," Jane told me.

"That's nice," I answered. I didn't care. I changed and then walked out of the locker room and onto the football field. We jogged a lap for our warm up and then stretched. Then we ran some more, doing hurdles and sprints and plain running.

"Johnson, five minutes and ten seconds, good work," Coach called out. I grinned. I glanced at the football field to see who was ahead of me. That was odd, nobody was there. I turned back around, everybody was there except Ponyboy. Did he come? Was it possible that I was first for once? I was a little excited and smiled.

"Did you actually believe you beat me?" Pony asked, walking out of the locker room.

"Well, you weren't here, where were you?" I asked.

"I forgot a water bottle so I had to get a drink," he told me. Damn, I had gotten my hopes up!

"You suck; I had actually thought I beat you for once… How'd you get so fast?" I whined.

"I don't concentrate on the person ahead of me," he replied.

"You can't nobody is ahead of you," I told him.

"Oh, yeah, I forgot, I always win," he teased me. I squirted him with my water bottle. "Hey, that isn't fair; I don't have a water bottle."

"Tough shit," I told him. He grabbed the water bottle away from me and squirted me in the face. The couch saw this and made us run two laps for fooling around. That wasn't fair.

I got a ride home from Tyler. He grabbed my CD player and put the CD into his car stereo. He started to sing along with it. In between Helena and Give 'Em Hell, Kid he looked at me.

"I know a secret," he sang. I just groaned. Secrets were a pain in the ass and I didn't want to hear anymore.

"That's nice," I told him and stared out the window. I always found the trees and houses going by entertaining.

"You're no fun," he told me. "I need to stop by Soda's for a second. Okay?" he asked. I nodded. He drove to their house and I waited in the car, listening to Thank You For The Venom. I started to sing when somebody tapped on the window. I as startled and I turned around to see Pony. I blushed and rolled down the window.

"Hey," he said. I smiled.

"Did, did you hear me?" I asked him. I would have to die if he heard me. That would _not _be cool. He nodded and I leaned back against the seat. Tyler came out of the house. "Bye," I told Pony.

"Yeah, bye," he responded and walked back to the house. I couldn't tell if he was disappointed or anything.

I got home and signed onto the instant messenger. I blocked Megan, Erica, Jane and Kim. I was pissed at them and not ready to forgive them.

_How many of you want to see Amber and Pony together?_


	8. Chapter 8

Reviewers-

Julie- I might, I might, I might

DramaticAngel- That's what I would've done.

Dakota- I really oughtta, shouldn't I?

XAmberX- I don't know…

Disclaimer- I don't own this book or any of its characters. I own Amber and Tyler and Amber's friends.

Thanks- CHARMED ROCKS!

Jeesh, I know it took forever. A whole month, but school started and all these other excuses that I could feed you.

* * *

The next day at school, I waited in the Rotunda (1). I needed to talk to somebody. I needed to find out something. The person I was looking for wasn't there. I stormed to my first period class. I wasn't very happy.

I sat down in the empty seat next to Ponyboy. My arms were folded across my chest and I looked pissed. I guess I was pissed. Ponyboy poked me. I wasn't in the mood.

"Fuck off," I hissed. I didn't even turn to look at him.

The rest of the day was quiet. Not a lot was going on. I couldn't wait until track. I'd be able to run and release the energy I had stored inside of me.

As I was running, I noticed today was Tyler's birthday. That's why he wasn't in school. My mom let us cut on our birthday. That's the only thing I liked about her.

"Pony, do you have a ride home?" I asked, pushing myself harder to catch up with him. My feet were burning. We had gotten a new track at school over the summer and I didn't like the feeling underneath my feet. It hurt them because it was squishy. I preferred grass or pavement.

"Wow, you've gotten fast. No, I don't have a ride. I was gonna ask you but your brother never showed up."

"You wanna walk home together?" I asked him. He nodded. I was panting to keep up with him, but he was still faster than me. I turned my run into a fast jog to cool off. The finish mark was just ahead.

After track, I changed into my distressed jeans and my wife beater. Wife beater, what a strange name… it's so, so violent. I grabbed my stuff and met Pony at the front of the school.

We walked to my house first. I wanted to drop my stuff off because it was killing my back. I walked to his house, figuring Soda would stop by later to see my brother for his birthday. I'd get a ride home that way. Wait… if today was my brother's birthday, he could drive anywhere now!

I decided not to worry about my brother right now.

"Hey, Soda, you comin' over later?" I asked him. He nodded.

"Are you gonna have chocolate cake?" he asked.

"When do we never?" I answered. He laughed.

"Why are you here? Are you going out with Pony?" he asked, raising his eyebrows. I felt myself blush.

"No," I said.

"Oh," he replied, sounding a little disappointed. "So, Pony, when are you asking her out?" he asked his brother. Pony also blushed and grabbed the couch pillow. He attacked his brother with it and I stood off to the side watching them wrestle. "You never answered me! C'mon on Pony, you'd be perfect. I know you wanna ask her out! Just do it!" Soda urged. I couldn't tell if he was joking or not.

To tell you the truth, I was waiting for Pony to ask me out. I was hoping he did.

* * *

(1) In Comsewogue High School, there is a big, open area near the cafeteria with doors leading to the court yard and to the main entrance. It is called the Rotunda because, well, because it's kinda circular (look up the word). It's just big… The ceiling is bumped out into the shape of a circle and the floor below it is painted in a circle. It's very interesting. Maybe if I get a picture I will show you. 


End file.
